The Will of the Dragon
by Nala The Lion
Summary: A look into the life of Jillian Mastrano Dragomir. Jill is in danger at court. Though she seems safer, she is a target of vampire hunters, strigoi, and anyone else against her half-sister, Vasilisa Dragomir, the moroi queen. While she is fighting, for her life, she can't help feeling a growing attraction to Edison Castile, or Eddie, a damphir. Can she save herself, and her heart?
1. Beach Blowup

Usually, I loved the water more than anything. It made me feel at home on most occasions. This time, I wanted to lock myself in my dorm at Amberwood and cry, but it had nothing to do with Adrian's emotions affecting me.

Eddie Castile and Angeline Dawes sat close to each other on the beach, laughing. Angeline was rubbing up against him, as if flaunting her relationship with Eddie.

"What's wrong, Jailbait?" Adrian asked. I looked at his handsome face, his hair dripping wet and flopping in his eyes in a very non-Adrian way.

"Nothing's wrong! I'm fine. Why would anything be wrong?" I said quickly. Everybody told me that I rambled a lot, but it was the way I talked. I couldn't think of any other way to explain things.

"You're doing that thing where you blink faster, and your aura is really dull. It's easy to tell that you're not fine." Adrian said sympathetically. I flopped down on the soft sand, drawing circles with my index finger, getting grains of sand under my fingernails. I looked up, and saw Adrian sit besides me.

"You…you know Eddie?" I asked nervously. Adrian smiled sadly.

"Yeah, of course. We're stationed with him." He said breezily, but there was concern in his bright green eyes.

"I kinda like him." I said, shyly, and Adrian laughed.

"That part was obvious, Jailbait." He said, chuckling. I looked up at him, wide eyed.

"You…you knew that? Sydney told you?" I asked, not recognizing my own voice.

"I could tell. Your auras are hard to look at when you're around each other. They light up instantly." He said, studying Eddie and Angeline sitting together.

"Each other? They? Does that mean…does that mean Eddie likes me back?" I asked hopefully.

"He liked you far before you liked him. He's just doing that guardian thing where he thinks that you'd be better off without him, but I can tell that he still has feelings for you. He's just forced himself to move on." Adrian said.

"Really?" I asked.

"Eddie's aura right now has love written all over it, but he doesn't love Angeline. Meanwhile, Angeline is just physically attracted to him. She thinks he's hot." He said, sounding slightly miffed that Angeline didn't think he was hot.

"She said you were too pretty to be useful." I giggled. Suddenly, I saw Angeline tilting her head to kiss Eddie. Eddie sat there, unmoving. She picked up his hand, and rested it on her thigh. She then grabbed his shoulders, and leaned in until she was centimeters away from him.

Angeline was my roommate. I liked her. Though she never followed the dress code, and could be slightly savage and violent, she was my friend. So, it was beyond me why I decided to make a huge wave drench the both of them.

They stood up, Eddie laughing slightly. He was only wearing swim trunks, which showed off his well-muscled body, but Angeline was wearing a grey t-shirt savagely ripped all across it, so that it looked like a tiger had attacked it, and she liked the shirt a lot for some reason.

"Jill! Why the f-" I swept another wave over them, Angeline getting picked up, and swept twenty feet away from Eddie. This time, Eddie walked over, cracking up. He held up his hand for me to high-five him, and I did, feeling a burst of warmth from the brief contact.

"Nice one." He said with a brilliant smile. I swept my eyes over him. His sandy brown hair was dripping into his hazel eyes. His tan, muscular body was glistening with water droplets.

"I'm so sorry I didn't mean to do that! I have no clue why I did that. I'm so so sorry, and you have every right to be mad at me." I said quickly.

"It's okay. I get it. You can't really…control yourself when you're in the water. Or near it." Eddie said with a smile. I felt my pulse quicken.

"Yeah…by the way, why did you decide to go to the beach today?" I asked.

"You deserved something fun. Do you like it?" Eddie asked, almost hopefully. On impulse, I hugged him. He started to take a step back, but then hugged me back tightly, grabbing me by the waist and spinning me. I giggled.

"Oh my god. Will you please get off of my boyfriend?" a voice huffed. I took a quick step away, and saw Angeline standing there, her face redder than her strawberry blonde hair. She blinked her big blue eyes at Eddie. "Eddie, can you help dry my back off? I can't reach, and the water from my hair keeps making my back wet again. Please?" she bit her lip, and I had an urge to drench her with another wave, but I fought it.

"I, uh, okay. Catch you later, Jill." Eddie said, and Angeline tore him away from me.

"More like Deviline." I grumbled.

"Deviline?" Adrian said with a laugh.

"She's no angel." I huffed.

"Jill…" I knew he was serious, because he was using my first name. "I know a thing or two about love. You need to go after him, fight for him. You can't let Angeline have him."

"You're not the one to talk, Adrian. I…I saw the kiss. I can tell that Sydney feels the same way about you, but she still thinks vampires are evil. You're not exactly winning her over. You've barely spoke three words to her since the kiss." I told him, touching his arm gently. He glanced at her. I did as well. Typical Sydney. We went to a beach, and she was curled up, reading a book. I laughed slightly, and Adrian smiled.

"What can I say? She doesn't feel the same way. She walked away from me, if you don't recall." Adrian said bitterly.

"In fear! Not because she didn't like you back. She does. I can see her aura through your eyes. Also, if I tell you something, will you tell nobody? Not Sydney, not Eddie, not Angeline, nobody." I said, lowering my voice.

"Though I was never a scout, scout's honor." He said. I took a step closer to him.

"When she got back from your place, after you kissed her, she was crying. I saw her. Also, one time, she told me to meet her in her room, and she was asleep. I saw her crying, and she was whispering Adrian over and over." I said quickly.

"I don't really know how to talk to her." He said, his shoulders slumping. I smacked him in the arm. Hard. "Jesus, Jill! What was that for?"

"Snap out of it. You're Adrian Ivashkov. You will get the girl." I said firmly.

"I'll find a way." He said, his smugness returning. A goofy smile spread over my face.

"Sonya and Mikhail's wedding is in a few days. Wear something dressy slash casual, dance with her. Sweep her off her feet. Show off your dancing skills." I said with a smile.

"Only if you dance with Edison." He said with a snarky smile.

"Who? Oh, Eddie. Oh my gosh, I don't have a dress yet! I need to find one." I said quickly.

"Relax, Jailbait." Adrian said with a laugh.

"What should I wear?" I asked quickly. I stole a glance at Eddie, who happened to be looking my way as well. I flushed, and snapped my head away.

"Something jade green, to match your eyes. Not too flamboyant, though. It's Sonya's special day." He teased.

"Yes, because I was totally going to go wearing a jade green dress decorated with peacock feathers and with a fruit basket on my head like Carmen Miranda." I said.

"Was that sarcasm? Also, Carmen Miranda didn't wear peacock feathers." He said, lightly.

"She did wear a fruit basket though." I countered, and he laughed at the intensity in my voice. I giggled as well.

"But, really Jailbait, go after him. I want what's best for you, and I think that that's him." He said softly, and I snuck another glance at Eddie, who was talking to Sydney. I couldn't help but noticed how Sydney's gaze didn't stray far from Adrian.

"And YOU need to tell Sydney, so she knows why I'm telling her how beautiful she is all the time. You're really rubbing off on me." I groaned, remembering how I always compliment Sydney in a near-creepy way whenever Adrian thinks about her. Which is constantly.

"She is beautiful, though…" he said dreamily. I thought of her beautiful smile and soft lips, her sweet personality, her knowledge of near every topic…I smacked myself.

"See, Adrian? Now I'm daydreaming about how soft her lips are, which is really creepy." I snapped. He laughed.

"You need to work on being mad and snapping at people. It's not your strong suit. You still sound sweet and nice, as if you're scared to hurt their feelings, even when you're mad." He said. "I'm going to talk to Eddie…don't worry, not about you, about court. See ya, Jailbait." He sauntered off, and I smiled just at the mention of Eddie.

I was sitting in my dorm at Amberwood, doing my history homework and ignoring Angeline as she complained about how soft the bed was, and how she preferred sleeping on the hard mattress, when a knock came at the door.

"Knock him away." Adrian said as soon as I pulled the heavy door open. He handed me a plastic bag, and I looked inside, and pulled it out. Adrian walked away before I could say a word. The dress was a shimmering (and by shimmering, it actually had glitter on it) jade dress, with a box neckline and short sleeves, and it came down to about where my knees would be. I smiled, and put it in my closet. Ever since Sydney had Lissa tell Adrian's dad how awesome Adrian was, his allowance got booted up to extreme levels once again.

"Knock who away?" Angeline asked. I gave her my sweetest, most innocent look.

"Nobody, just an inside joke." I said with a genuine giggle. She rolled her eyes.

"Why are you always so peppy?" Angeline groaned. I just giggled.

"That's just who I am." I said, and smoothed out the dress. She rolled her eyes, and continued her whining, saying, "It's SO annoying. Almost as annoying as these pillows. They're too squishy! It's weird, like your head is falling into the pillows. Pillows should be firm, not moving. With the keepers, they stuffed the pillows, and it was perfectly comfortable. More than that, it..." I tuned her out at that point, smoothing out my PJ's, and resting my head into the sort Amberwood pillows, which I liked just fine. I snuggled into the pillow, and pulled my phone on my bedside table to me. I quickly looked at a photo of Eddie, and a goofy grin spread over my face. I exited out of the photo, put my phone back, and fell asleep with visions of him and I in my head.


	2. Before The Wedding

I heard the sound of classical music, a ringtone my mom had set, and reached for my phone. SONYA KARP, it read. The wedding! It started in three hours. I quickly pressed the green button.

"Sonya?" I asked.

"Oh, Jill, thank heavens. I know this is on short notice, but there's a plumbing problem. Water is everywhere. I tried calling Mia, but she was busy, and I know you're busy, but I just…"

"Say no more. I'll be there." I said determinedly.

"Thank you so much! Just to save time, you can wear your outfit, since you can easily dry yourself off." Sonya added quickly. I nodded, the told her I would.

The dress fit like a dream. The box-neck didn't show too much cleavage, and the skirt was long, but it would still be considered as sexy. I looked at my hair, soaking wet, and dried it, leaving it in loose curls. I applied lip-gloss, a special kind that stayed on longer, and applied a thin layer of powder on my face. I then gave myself a 'smoky eye', as my mother had called it, and put on some waterproof mascara to enhance my eyes. I topped it off with a pale pink blush, lightly dusting it across my cheekbones, and took a train to court.

I looked at my perfect, oval fingernails that I had grown out. They were painted a jade green color, like my eyes and dress. I looked slightly different than most moroi. Though I was tall and pale, I had big eyes, but I wasn't bug-eyed. Other than that, I just looked like an average moroi, but a 'striking' human, as Lia DiStefano had told me on multiple occasions. I was pale, tall, and thin, which went far in the modeling world, but Sydney always held me back from modeling. I shook Sydney, modeling, and fingernails out of my mind, and looked out the window for the rest of the twenty miles to court.

I walked into the beach wedding, and I saw everything in chaos. Water pipes were gushing everywhere, and the water had brought the water from the lake up to the wedding, and it was flooded with about five inches of water.

All of the white roses were wilting and dripping water, and all of the food was soaked. I looked past all of the wet decorations, and I saw Sonya slumped down at the alter. I hurried to my aunt as fast as my three-inch heels could carry me, and she looked up, sniffling. Her pretty blue eyes were swollen from tears, and her auburn hair hung in rattails down her back.

"I will fix this." I said determinedly. I closed my eyes, and imagined water swelling back, being pushed away. I could vaguely feel the water being sapped away form my ankles, but I kept my concentration. I pushed the water away from the swelling pipes, and mended them with my mind. The spraying sound went away. Finally, I imagined all of the unwanted water being sucked away, and I blinked my eyes open.

My aunt stood there, her beautiful wedding gown dry, her auburn hair again in loose waves. I took a closer look at her dress. The bust of her dress was decorated with white silk roses, and the silk dress flowed outwards from there, like water flowing down a mountain. It had a long train, about ten feet long.

"Jillian…you look beautiful. I love your dress." She said, her warm smile returning.

"You look like a dream…where did you find that dress?" I asked with a giggle. I always got nervous when people complimented me.

"A normal bridal shop. Your aura…you are planning something, and you're nervous. Why?" Aunt Sonya said. I blushed.

"Adrian told me that he'd dance with Sydney if I'd dance with Eddie." I said quickly.

"Adrian and Sydney aren't together yet?" Sonya asked in shock.

"You know, she still has her qualms about vampires…" I trailed off, almost feeling as if I was betraying Adrian by telling Sonya this.

"Love comes through in any way, shape, or form. Sydney is in love. I can read it on her aura anyways, at all times, but when Adrian is around, it becomes so bright that I can't look directly at it." Sonya said, a faraway look in her eyes, and I knew that she was talking about when she was a strigoi.

"You…you loved Mikhail, even when you were…" I couldn't bring myself to say it, but she knew what I was saying.

"I couldn't feel my love, but it seemed as if it were repressed. I wasn't capable of loving anyone, but I am now. You can't love as a strigoi, though. You need a soul to have a soul mate." I nodded, and my aunt smiled.

"I'm free, now though…" she trailed off. I leaned in and hugged her, and she gripped my back firmly. "You can just…oh, I called Eddie over earlier. He'll be here in twenty minutes. I thought I needed a guardian here, besides for Mikhail."

In only ten minutes, Eddie arrives. I saw his lips moving, but I couldn't hear him as he talked to Sonya. My superhuman hearing only went so far.

"Hi." He said shyly as he came up to me. I stood up, and smiled sweetly.

"Hello." I said, almost curtsying, but I stopped myself, making it an awkward sideways bow.

"Hey, I'm a damphir. You're the sister of the queen. I should be bowing to _you_." he said. I laughed.

"True…" I giggled, and he smiled.

"I love how you're so cheerful about the time. It brightens the atmosphere of a room whenever you're around." He said with a smile. I blushed.

"Funny, your girlfriend was just talking about that the other night. She said it was annoying, though." I said quietly, not meeting his eyes. He let out a heaving sigh.

"Angeline…can I talk to you about something?" he asked me. I looked at him immediately.

"Yeah, of course! Anything." I said quickly. He gave me a bitter smile.

"Not anything." He mumbled. "Do you think…do you think that she's cheating on me with Trey?" he asked, looking around. I bit my lip.

"Well, Angeline thinks I'm all pure, and won't tell me anything, but it might be something that she'd do. She can get bored easily. But not necessarily Trey. I mean, not necessarily anybody, either! She didn't tell me anything. She doesn't 100% trust me with that sort of stuff, because she thinks I'm young and innocent." I rambled quickly. Why didn't I see that as an opening? _Yeah, she's totally into Trey, you should dump her, because guess who else has a crush on you?_ Now that he brought it up, though, I was immediately brought back to a memory of her rubbing up against Micah.

"You are young and innocent." He said with an affectionate smile. I frowned.

"I'm almost sixteen! I'm less than three years younger than you!" I exclaimed. Eddie laughed, which infuriated me.

"That's a lot younger than me." He said, but there was a twinge of sadness in his eyes.

"So? Dimitri is like, seven years older than Rose!" I huffed, and Eddie gently smiled.

"Are you comparing you and I to Dimitri Belikov and Rose Hathaway?" Eddie asked with a deep chuckle.

"Yes. Wait no! Uh…"

"Aww, I rather like being compared to Belikov." He said with an uncharacteristic fake pout.

"Okay, you can be 'tiny Dimitri'. I'll be…" I trailed off.

"You can be Jillian Mastrano Dragomir." He said with a light, knowing smile.

"Hmm, Jillian? Tell me more about her." I said, turning my charm on. Adrian told me once, when I had a crush on him, that my natural charm was stronger than any compulsion.

"She's the most beautiful girl that you've ever seen. She's cute, smart, funny, sweet, and caring. She is fiercely loyal." He said. I knew that my green eyes went wide. Did he like me back, or was Sydney just trying to make me feel better?

"She sounds like a good girl." I said shyly, and he tucked a loose curl behind my ear. He leaned forward, and I almost parted my lips when I got jolted out of my mind.

I felt a gnawing sensation that I recognized as spirit darkness in the back of my mind. Nate Ivashkov sat at the lunch table in front of me-er, Adrian.

"When will you decide to, for ONE time, do something useful in your life? You're lazy. You only care about yourself, and you've never done anything for somebody else. How hard would it be to pull your act together and do something of substance?" Nate said in his booming voice.

"How hard would it be to find your wife and help her break out of the jail in-wait, you won't even tell ME where the jail is." Adrian retorted, and I felt just as angry. Under his tough façade, though, Adrian was hurting and upset. He missed his mother, and was ashamed of himself for putting her into jail. _It's not your fault!_ I wanted to yell. _Your dad is just trying to blame this on you!_

"I know that you'd try to help her escape." His father said smoothly. _Well, excuse me for loving my mother. I care about mom; she's the only person in the family who gave a damn about me!_ Adrian thought angrily. I wanted to hug him, and punch his father.

"Why is that a problem?" Adrian near-shouted.

"She has tarnished this family's reputation, even more than you ever did. It is best for her to be locked away, and not associated with the Ivashkov family."

"Jill? Jill, snap out of it. Are you all right? Jill, please!" I heard Eddie said. I opened his eyes to see his face looming over mine, so close I could taste his warm breath tickle my lips. I looked around. I was lying on a couch; I obviously had collapsed.

"Sorry. Adrian was upset, and I get pulled into his mind whenever he is upset, or happy, or angry, or any other strong emotion, I get pulled in." I said.

"I know. It just scared me to see you like that. I've never seen you switch into Adrian's mind while standing, and I was surprised when you collapsed into me." Eddie said. I flushed, and he sat on the couch my waist. He turned so that his knees were near my face. I looked up into his outfit. He wasn't in the pinstripe guardian suit, Sonya had forbidden it, but rather a cloudy-blue long sleeved button down that matched his eyes tucked into black dress pants and leather shoes. His brown hair just tickled his forehead, styled a little more than usual.

"I've never seen you in a formal outfit." I mumbled. He smiled.

"Sonya insisted…you look beautiful. You _are_ beautiful." He said gently, and I could feel heat rise to my cheeks.

"You are too…I mean, uh, you…look good today? Not that you don't look good any other day, you always look good, but today you look good-er-ish?" I rambled quickly, and almost groaned.

"Thank you." he said, laughing. Within seconds, I was laughing, too.

For the next hour, we talked about random stuff, like puppies, compulsion, water, guardians, and our friends. I couldn't keep the cheesy grin off my face, and I noticed that the longer he talked to me, the more he seemed open and cheerful. I tried to stay off of the topic of Spokane. Successfully. Though I didn't know much about it, I knew that he was sensitive about the topic.

"Eddie, what are you doing with Jill?" Angeline groaned. He looked down at me.

"We're not doing anything. She's my friend." He said. I could almost swear I heard him mumble, "Nothing more, no matter how much I want it."

"Later, Eddie." I said, contemplating his words. _No matter how much I want it?_

"Later, Jill." He said, keeping my gaze. I suddenly felt brave, and stood up.

"Would you save a dance for me tonight?" I said before my courage could escape me.

"I'd love to. Meet me later for a few dances. Or, rather, I'll find you." he said with a wink, and Angeline pulled him away, glaring at me. I sat back on the couch, and smiled.


	3. The Attack

I sat down next to Sydney, who was absentmindedly twisting a lock of blonde hair. "Hi, Jill." She said softly. I smiled broadly.

"Hi, Sydney!" I said cheerfully.

"You're awfully happy today." She noticed, and I glanced at Adrian, who was joking and laughing with Rose and Lissa.

"Well, it's my aunt's wedding, and Adrian's in a pretty good mood, despite what happened with-never mind." I felt as if I shouldn't tell anyone what I witnessed with Adrian and his dad. I reached into his mind briefly, and found that he was slightly embarrassed about it, and he didn't tell anyone.

"Adrian…how is he? I haven't talked to him in a while." Sydney said, a twinge of sadness in her voice.

"Whose fault is that?" I snapped bitterly.

For once, this wasn't Adrian affecting me. They were both being stupid, but Sydney wouldn't open her eyes and see how much she obviously cared for Adrian, even though he was a 'evil creature of the night'. At least Adrian knew that he liked her. She was lying to herself, but she wouldn't admit it. She had too much pride. Her alchemist ways were blocking her.

"I just wish we could go back to being friends. I miss his friendship." She said, putting an unnecessary emphasis on the word friendship.

_You like him, he likes you back! What's the problem? It's not like either of you two are dating, which is a lot more than I can say for Eddie and I. _I wanted to yell at her. Instead, I kept composed, and stood up, gathered my dress, and sat back down so that my dress was arranged. I smoothed the garment out tenderly. "You wish the kiss had never happened? Do you want to go back to Bradley? Do you want to go back to a life where you had a sweet, innocent relationship that had no sparks, no chemistry?" I said, pursing my lips, sticky with sweet smelling lip-gloss.

"His name is Brayden." She said firmly, avoiding my questions. I gave her a bitter smile, and glanced at Adrian, who was looking at Sydney. His eyes locked with mine, and he nodded toward Eddie, and winked. I looked at Sydney with an exaggerated eye roll, and then wiggled my eyebrows. I had never got the hang of the one-eyebrow arch thing.

"What do you have against Adrian? He may seem like just a flippant party boy, but he'll surprise you." I said, protective of Adrian. I loved him, but as a big brother. I no longer had a crush on him, though.

"I have nothing against him." She said stiffly. She stared at the couch cushion intently, suddenly fascinated by it. Plain white and silk. Fascinating!

"Yeah. Would you date him if he wasn't a vampire?" I asked her. She fingered the cushion, and shook her head, her slightly wavy blonde hair flying. I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and give her a good shake. _Why won't you admit that you like him? You've kissed him, for God's sake!_

"No. I wouldn't. I am not attracted to Adrian Ivashkov. Is that the reason that you came here? To pressure me about a bloodsucker that I do not like?" Sydney said, almost robotically. "You're a little late. The queen already did that. Your sister wasn't very convincing. My feelings for him have not changed." I clenched her arm, and this time did shake her slightly.

"You can have him! He doesn't have a girlfriend, and he has already professed his love for you. He isn't a guardian set on protecting you, and nothing else. He doesn't look at you like you're barely a child!" I hardly recognized my own voice. I was now talking more about Eddie and I than Adrian Ivashkov and Sydney Katherine Sage.

"Jill, are you all right?" Sydney asked. _Wow, you have so much concern for a bloodsucker._ I felt my eyes sting, and I thought of evaporation. My eyes were dry again, hopefully before Sydney had noticed that I was crying.

"Why do you hate us so much? Who attacked you when you were with Adrian? Lee, a human. Human!" My voice broke when I said a word about Lee, but I kept going. "Who attacked Sonya in the alley, and shoved your head into a wall? A human. A human vampire hunter, not an 'evil creature of the night'. None of us chose to be vampires." I said firmly, shocked by how passionately I was speaking.

"I…I know. I was taught to hate vampires." She said. For some reason, it was if she had punched me in the gut.

"You hate me?" I said, my voice squeaking. I thought…I thought she was one of my best friends. I felt a tear roll down my cheek.

"No, no, no, not you! You and Rose, you're like my sisters, and not because I'm assigned to pretend that. You can't tell anyone I said that, though. It's a sign of treason." She added the last part quickly. A stupid grin lit my face, and I hugged her tightly. She, surprisingly, hugged me back, awkwardly patting my back.

"Hey, Jailbait, can I borrow Sydney for a moment?" I heard a deep voice say. Adrian. I knew because,

Through the bond, I saw him coming.

Only he and Avery called me Jailbait, and I highly doubted that it was Avery. I recognized her voice, which haunted my dreams still, anywhere.

Adrian Ivashkov had a unique voice.

"Yeah, sure!" I evaporated my tears again, and smiled as he sat next to a happy Sydney.

"Oof!" I exclaimed as I walked into somebody, my chest crushing against the person's hard chest. I looked into a pair of grey-blue eyes, like the ocean on a cloudy day, ones I recognized as Eddie. I was suddenly aware as our close proximity, and was overwhelmed by his face, mere inches away from mine. I could smell his breath, which smelled of mint, and his cologne, which was a deep, musky scent. Though it sounded like a strange combination, it smelled surprisingly good. More than good, amazing.

I took a quick step away from him, rocking back on my heels, and he grabbed my arm and pulled me to him, his guardian instincts kicking in. "Uhhhhh…" I said, not able to say any other words, too heavily affected by his closeness.

"How about that dance?" he asked, suddenly breathless. I nodded, and he extended his arm. I wrapped my small hand around his hard muscle in his forearm, and he pulled me to the dance floor, where a slow song that I had never heard of, but I didn't care when Eddie pulled me to him, one hand on my waist, the other on my shoulder. I could feel his heat searing through my dress. I was usually a bit shorter than him, but my heels boosted me up to his height. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, well muscled, like every part of him. We swayed to the music, our faces close.

I put my right hand on his shoulder, and he took it in his larger hand. My hand seemed to fit perfectly in his, like two pieces of a puzzle coming together. His hand, lightly tanned like the rest of him, was softer than I'd have expected. Though he had calluses, they felt like they were gently caressing my pale hand. He rubbed the back of mu hand with his thumb.

"Are you having fun?" he asked, pressing his forehead to mine, and we stood there, locked in time. My breath caught.

"I am now." I whispered. He leaned even closer, our noses almost touching. I didn't breathe, afraid of breaking the spell. He tilted his head, lips parted, and I did the same. Our lips were so close, I could feel the heat of his lips radiating against mine. His eyes widened, and he tackled me. A figure with a knife stabbed the air where I was just standing. The figure turned, and Eddie lunged at the man. He knocked Eddie aside like he was a rag doll, and Eddie crashed into a table, and slumped to the ground.

"Eddie!" I shrieked. I crawled to my knees, when I felt a blinding pain in my face. I was dragged to my feet, and the figure pressed my back to him, one hand around my waist. I felt something cold pressed to my throat.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a small figure with long dark hair run toward the man holding me captive.

"Take one more step, and the Dragomir princess is dead." My breathing sped up, and I assessed the situation. If I ran forward, the silver knife pressed to my throat would kill me.

"P-p-puh-plea-se d-d-d-don't hurt-" I whimpered, hyperventilating.

"Shut up. Another word, and you're dead." The voice said. The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it. Somebody else could, though.

"You bitch, let her go! You care about her! What the hell are you doing, man? I know you! This isn't you!" I heard Eddie shout, hysterical.

"Do you really know me, Edison?" the voice spat.

"Please. Please. Just, let her go. Take me instead." Eddie choked out in sobs.

'Why would I want a failure like you? You're just a dirty, lowly damphir. You aren't even a guardian, if I recall." My captor sneered.

"Let her the fuck go!" a new voice shouted. Adrian.

"If it isn't Lord Ivashkov? You'd be useful. Lazar, take him, too." The man called. My heart stopped in my throat. Avery.

"No! How-you-you went allegedly insane!" Adrian shouted as Avery grabbed him violently.

"You never were the brightest person around. I thought you'd get my act." Avery sneered. "Oh, who were Lissa's other companions? Reed, Simon, grab Rosemarie and Ozera."

Reed and Simon popped out of nowhere, and grabbed Christian and Rose before you could blink.

I squeezed my eyes shut, and imagined water. Water gushing everywhere, sweeping everyone forcefully away, flooding the room. I clenched my nails into a fist, and squeezed my eyes more tightly. The only thing I could hear was my heartbeat pounding in my ears.

It was as if the room exploded. The man holding me captive dropped the knife as the water crashed against us, and I kicked my feet against his chest, kicking off, getting swept away by the water.

"R-r-retreat!" I heard Avery's voice scream. I couldn't feel much anymore, as I had completely exerted myself. I slumped my shoulders, my body limp and lifeless. The water battered me around like a rag doll.

I could vaguely feel a pair of strong arms wrapping around me, dragging with me to the dry part of the beach. "Jill. Jill! Jill, can you hear me? Say something. Anything. Please, Jill! It's me, Eddie. Please. Open your eyes, Jill!" Eddie frantically said. We got to shore, and he scooped me up in his arms, bridal-style. _I'm fine, Eddie. I'm okay. I'm right here._ I wanted to say. I wanted to open my eyes, but I didn't have the energy. I wanted to move, but I was frozen in place. I couldn't even twitch my fingers. I felt myself slip out of consciousness. It was suddenly near impossible to think, even breathe.

"Oh, God, Jill, stay with me! Please." Eddie said, and I heard a sob escape his lips. He gasped, as if he had a brilliant idea, and he set me down. He was rummaging around for something. "Jill. If you can hear me, don't think. Don't try to speak, or move. Just concentrate on breathing for just another minute. I won't let you die. I won't be able to live with myself. Just focus on breathing deep, slow breaths. Inhale, exhale, yeah, that's it. Another minute. Just keep breathing.

I took his advice, and focused solely on breathing. After ten seconds, it was a hardship. I wanted to stop breathing. Every breath was incredibly painful, a strain on my throat, but I kept breathing. I kept breathing for Eddie.


	4. Brought Back

I heard a click, and Eddie let out a pained groan. I kept breathing, but I was losing energy. I could no longer take deep breaths, but short breaths that I held for as long as I could, trying to preserve my breath. Eddie cupped my face in his palms, and pulled me to him. I felt a liquid fill my throat, and he helped me swallow, pressing one hand gently to my throat, helping me swallow the sweet tasting, thick substance. His other hand was stroking my hair, pressing my parted lips to his…throat? I snapped my eyes open, and took in our surroundings, pulling away from him. A pocketknife was at the ground of the alley, and Eddie's throat was slit, blood trickling out of the wound. I put the pieces together in my mind, and I tried to stand, but I still had minimal energy, so I crumbled into Eddie, sitting on the ground. He pulled me into his lap, and tried to press my lips to his bleeding throat. I pulled away.

"What are you doing?" I asked, my throat dry. My voice was hoarse.

"Jill. Drink. You need blood." He said, concern filling his hazel eyes.

"No…no. Rose told me that…mmm…you, uh, got…bit a lot by, uhh, strigoi in…Spo-kane. You can't…she said you're still…scared of…vampires drink-ing your blood…hmm…" It was getting extremely difficult to speak.

"I'm more scared of you dying." He said. He, again, pulled me to him.

"Let's go to Clarence's, then. There's blood…th-ere…I'll just…mmm…" I couldn't speak, and my eyes began go close.

"Jill. No. I want you to take my blood. I want you too. There's not enough time. Take my blood. Take as much as you need to function normally. Please, will you let me help you?" Eddie asked, a tear rolling down his handsome face. I nodded slightly, and he gingerly pressed my lips to his throat. I drank obligingly, slowly sipping up his sweet blood.

"That's it. Just drink. That's it. Good, Jill." He said gently, in almost a whisper.

I pulled away, and looked into his eyes, slightly glazed over. Still sitting in his lap, I tentatively brushed some of the hair away from his face, still wet from the flood at the wedding. He seemed to snap back to reality at that touch, and looked at me in wonder. He cupped my face in his hands.

"Jill…Jill…Jill…" he whispered my name over and over. "I…I thought I'd never see you again like this." He said, tears glistening in his eyes.

"Like what?" I asked softly.

"_This_. Alive. Vibrant." He said in a whisper, and he kissed my forehead, and pressed my face into his chest. We were both still dripping wet, and I used my magic to dry us both. I reached under my dress, and ripped of an inner layer of the dress, and I used it to gently dab at Eddie's cut.

"Are you okay?" I asked him. He laughed.

"_Me_? I'm not the one who was seconds away from dying." He said softly.

"You saved me." I whispered simply.

"I'd do it a thousand times over." He whispered back. It was a cheesy, over-used line, but it had meaning to me.

"Even if it meant having a vampire drink your blood?" I asked him.

"Only you. Anybody else, I wouldn't do that." He told me.

"They come first?" I asked, saying the guardian mantra. He shook his head, and smiled.

"_You_ come first." He said gently. My breath caught.

"Jill!" a feminine voice shouted. I turned to see Sydney running toward us. I was happy to see her usually, but in this moment, I was annoyed. I stood up quickly, brushing off my dress. Eddie stood up too, as if nothing had happened. Sydney hugged me, hard, and I forced a smile.

"Eddie!" an annoying voice shouted. I saw Angeline running toward Eddie, her wet strawberry-blonde hair flying out behind her. She flung herself into his arms, hugging him, but he didn't respond; he just kept his arms at his sides stiffly.

"Hi, Angeline." He grumbled.

"I just wanted to say that I forgive you." she said, with a huge smile. I noted with some satisfaction that her normally beautiful hair hung in tangled knots down her back. Her dress was beautiful before, if not slutty (it was an electric blue shade to match her eyes, strapless and skintight, only going a few inches down her thighs), but now it lost its shape, and was sort-of bunching up, making her look fatter.

"For what?" Eddie asked, confused. Angeline giggled, as if trying (and failing) at being cute.

"I know that when you broke up with me, you were delusional. So, I just wanted to say, I take you back." She said, and my eyes widened. Sydney just smiled strangely. My mind raced. _Eddie dumped Angeline? Why? Could Adrian and Sonya be right? Does he maybe have feelings for me?_

"I don't. Angeline, we're _over_." Eddie said firmly. Angeline took a step back, shocked.

"I thought that I misjudged you, so I decided to give it a try, and go out with you. I thought that I had pegged you wrong, but you have proven me that my first impression of you was right. You just _like_ flirting with every guy in sight, don't you?" he asked sharply.

"Eddie, what are you talking about?" Angeline asked sweetly, with her best innocent look. I wanted to punch her, but I wasn't the best at self-defense.

"Hmm, you've slept with Trey, you flirt with Adrian constantly, and you've kissed Micah. I take that as cheating." Eddie said, ticking off the men on his fingers.

"Trey led me on, and I didn't mean to kiss Micah! It was an accident! And I've never flirted with Ivashkov!" she said, almost hysterically. I've never seen this frantic, desperate side of her. She seemed like a different person when she felt scared, and wanted to hold on to something.

"Even if you didn't cheat on me, I would've dumped you sooner or later." He said simply.

"It's because of HER, isn't it?" Angeline shrieked. Her who?

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. What I know, though, is that I do not like you in that way." Eddie said coldly.

"You know what? I don't need you. Go fuck yourself." She said, and stormed off, with an indignant 'humph!'

Sydney backed away, leaving me again alone with Eddie. He began walking to the car, or 'Latte', as Sydney called it.

"I'm so sorry." I said quickly. He shrugged, and I noticed the broad smile on his face. He laughed, and I smiled.

"That was the highlight of my relationship with Angeline." He told me, and I laughed.

We pulled up at Adrian's new place, the new one with 6 bedrooms, where we all would be staying. It was embarrassing, having to live at his house, along with Sydney, Eddie, and Angeline, for protection.

After I closed the door to my room after dinner, I pulled the drawer open. I had stayed here, so I still had some of my spare clothes. I pulled out a pair of white shorts with bubble gum pink stripes, and a bright yellow spaghetti-strap tank top. I considered taking a shower, but dismissed the idea, as it would be my third shower in a two-hour time span. I changed into the pajamas, and brushed out my curly hair. I then pulled it into a tight ponytail, and walked out of the hallway and into the room across from mine.

"Jill? Hey." Eddie said. He was wearing a grey t-shirt and black cotton boxers. His hair was slightly damp, and he smelled of soap and some type of shampoo that smelled like peppermint leaves.

"Can I come in?" I asked, suddenly shy. He nodded, and closed the door, locking it out of habit. He looked me up and down.

"Cute outfit." He said, making me blush. I wondered if it made me look younger. I almost groaned. The last thing I needed was to look even younger in Eddie's eyes.

"I asked Rose to train me a while ago, but she told me that she wouldn't, so I gave up on the idea of trying to fight, since she told me not to fight, but now I'm thinking that I _should_ learn how to fight, because if it wasn't for magic, I might not have survived back there, and II felt helpless, and I want to learn how to fight so will you train me?" I asked in one long breath.

"If it's that important to you, then I guess that Rose doesn't have to know…"

"Oh, thank you thank you thank you!" I squealed, and hugged him. He hugged me back, rubbing my shoulder slightly. We stood there for another moment, and I pulled away.

"What strategy do you want to try?" He asked, stretching out his arms. He put his pressure on one knee, and stretched his hamstring.

"Fighting?" I asked, dumbfounded. He laughed, and alternated legs.

"No, self defense or attack?" he asked. I blushed.

"Oh! Right. Uh, self defense." I said, embarrassed.

"Okay. Pretend that I'm a strigoi." He said. I nodded, and he suddenly grabbed me and turned me, my back pressing into his warm chest. My pulse picked up, and I could feel his heat searing through my pajamas.

"Now what?" I asked softly. He leaned down so that his breath was tickling my ear.

"Grab my arm and twist it, then duck under my arm." He said. I took his wrist, which was pressed to my stomach. I twisted it, not hard, so Ii wouldn't hurt him, and twisted away from his grasp. I felt a longing for his heat against mine. He smiled, proudly, a wide full-toothed one that was so rare. I loved that smile, and savored the moments that I could see it.

"Like that?" I asked.

"Just like that. You ready to try a harder one?" he asked. I nodded.

He walked me through the maneuver, which was one where he punched me, and I grabbed his wrist, and spun him, throwing him down. "Are you ready to try it?" he asked me, and I nodded with determination.

He began to punch me in slow motion, and I giggled at his exaggerated movements as he pretended to punch me.

"This isn't funny!" he said trying to keep a straight face, but he laughed as well.

When his fist came close, I grabbed his wrist and tried to spin him, but I spun myself, causing him to fall on top of me on the bed behind us. My pulse raced, and I could feel his pick up against my chest.

"Uh…" I stammered. He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it.

He brushed some of the hair that had escaped my ponytail away, and shot a glance at me, as if he was having an argument with himself inside his head.

Eddie abruptly climbed off of me, looking slightly shaken. I blinked, and he held out a hand. I took it, feeling that familiar surge of warmth, and he pulled me up swiftly, as if I weighed less than nothing. He let go of my hand once I was steady, and brushed his boxers off. "You have the right concept of it, you know what to do, but you need to work on executing it properly."

"Right. I'll do that." I said, standing up straighter, and twirling a lock of hair, a nervous habit.

"So…do you still want to train with me tomorrow? I was thinking, we could go to an actual gym, away from Amberwood." He said quickly, almost nervously.

"I'd love that." I said shyly, and he smiled again.

"You know, it's bad to train on an empty stomach…you should check out this Italian restaurant near the gym." He said, with an almost flirty attitude.

"With…with you?" I asked, shocked. Did _Edison Castile_ ask me on a date?

"Yeah, for sure."

"I'd love to." I said, with a grin I couldn't wipe off my face.

"Just wear whatever, and bring your workout clothes in a bag." Eddie told me. I nodded, and he took a step forward. "Good night, Jill." He whispered, and kissed me on the cheek. A jolt of electricity was sent through my body.

Hours later, I lay in bed, thinking about the kiss. My cheek was still warm and tingling, a sensation that I tried to hold onto for as long as possible.


	5. Not Who He Said He Was

I smoothed out the dress I had bought an hour earlier for my date with Eddie. I felt giddy even thinking about it. _I had a date with Eddie!_ I giggled, and glanced at the clock. One hour until my date with him.

I stripped my clothes off and hopped in the shower. I loved the feel of the water against me, but it couldn't beat the ocean. The pure water sources I loved the most. I felt the most…connected to them.

I used my fanciest, and most sweet smelling body wash, which smelled like peaches. I loved peaches. Though it was strange to think a fruit was cute, I thought that peaches were adorable and fuzzy.

Then, I lathered my hair with shampoo, one that smelled like oranges.

After that, I turned the water, immediately missing it. I dried myself with my magic, one of the perks to being a water user.

My hair hung in shining locks, like the girls from the commercials that ran around with bouncing hair.

I painted my face with makeup, like my face was an empty canvas. The thought of art brought me to Adrian's mind.

He was sitting on his bed next to Sydney, and Sydney looked distraught.

"What do you want, Sage? Honestly, I'm getting tired of this. Just tell me what you want from me." Adrian said, obviously annoyed. Sydney let out a sigh.

"I-I don't know! I want to be _friends_. Why can't we just go back to the way we were before?" Sydney pleaded. _Why did I ever do that?_ Adrian thought. _How could I have been so stupid? She's an alchemist. Nothing will ever happen between us. Why did I even try? Did I think that she felt the same way?_

"Wanting to be friends after a kiss like that is like somebody who kidnapped you asking to 'keep in touch' after he lets you go. It doesn't happen." He said bitterly.

"So, we're not friends. Maybe I should leave now." She snapped at him.

"Maybe you should." He snapped back.

"You know what? I will!" she shouted, and stormed out, slamming the door so hard that I got pushed out of Adrian's mind.

I was shocked to find that I was still standing. Usually, I keeled over when I got sucked into his mind. I was glad, because it meant my subconscious was becoming stronger.

I pulled my dress on. It was a simple yellow dress with spaghetti straps, but I liked it.

I sat on my bed, waiting for Eddie. Not a moment too late, he appeared at my door, wearing a white button down with black jeans.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

I grabbed my black bag, which I had put a purple tank top and black gym shorts, and slipped into yellow pumps. I smiled at Eddie.

"I am now." I told him.

"Lets go, then. I told Sydney where we were going. I didn't want to tell Adrian, because I heard Sydney yelling at him, so I'm not sure how sober he will remain." Eddie said, casting a glance at Adrian's room. I shook my head.

"He'll cope. He's not drinking as much lately." I told him, and Eddie nodded.

Before we could make our way to the door, Angeline stopped us. I swallowed hard, knowing this exchange wouldn't end pleasantly.

"Oh. Now I know why you dumped me. You were cheating on me with her. She's a little _young_ for you, you know? It's kind of weird that you're dating a girl, oh, three years younger." She sneered.

"Jill is my _friend_, Angeline. I don't know what your problem is. You cheated on me with two guys, and flirted with another." He said calmly.

"Ohhhhhh, I get it. Friends with benefits." She said, pronouncing benefits as 'beanie-fits'.

"No, Angeline! Stop it!" I said, scared of the fury in her eyes.

"Oh, wow, pathetic." She sneered. Eddie grabbed my hand, and pushed past her, 'accidentally' brushing her shoulder so hard that she wobbled on her feet. He slammed the door in her face.

"I'm sorry." He said.

"For what?" I asked him, and he shook his head.

"For that. She was wrong. You're anything but pathetic." He said, still holding my hand. Happy jolts went up and down my arm.

I only nodded, and we got down to Latte.

"Sydney let you drive it?" I asked, shocked. Sydney treated her car as if it was her newborn baby. She even named it, and forced us to call her car 'Latte' as well. Eddie laughed.

"Believe me, it wasn't easy." He said.

"What did you do?" I giggled.

"I gave her this book thing that I bought when I was bored. It was written in Latin, which I found out after I bought it." He told me. I giggled.

"You didn't read it before you bought it?" I asked.

"It looked cool! The cover was made of leather." He protested as he started the engine.

"Yeah, because that makes it a great find if it has leather in it."

"It does." He said.

The rest of the way to the restaurant, we talked about books with cool covers and languages we didn't know.

When we pulled up to the restaurant, I gasped. It was a romantic, old-fashioned Italian diner complete with walls made of marble and columns holding up the ceiling. The tables were made of a shining dark wood with matching chairs, but what amazed me the most was the fountain.

There was a huge stone fountain with water spurting out the top, and then flowing down many stone steps, and finally falling into the small pool. Little streams of water were flowing out of the base of the fountain into the pool. Just looking at it and being near it filled me with an inner calm. I closed my eyes, and listened to the rush of the water filling my ears.

"Thank you." I said, turning around and hugging Eddie. He squeezed me, and for a moment, we stood, locked in time, until he pulled away.

"You like it?" he asked shyly.

"I _love_ it." I told him. "It's perfect."

"I'm glad you're happy." He whispered.

"So, where do we sit?" I asked.

"Right there, over by th fountain. They thought I was crazy when I reserved a table as close to the fountain as possible this morning." He said with a small smile. I grinned as well.

He, being the gentleman he is, pulled my chair out for me. I sat down graciously, and he pushed my chair in for me.

"I feel like a princess." I giggled, and we locked eyes as he sat down.

"You _are_ a princess. It's good that you feel like one." He told me softly. I smiled.

"Uh, you mean that I still love princess stuff." I covered quickly. He laughed at my attempt to cover our identities.

"You _do_ realize that everyone here is a moroi or damphir? We're right by court." He told me, laughing. I flushed bright pink.

"I knew that." I said quickly, and he laughed.

"Uh-huh. I believe that." He said, and I giggled.

We kept our light banter throughout the dinner, flirting with each other toward the end of the dinner.

"Wow, you must have to train pretty hard to be a guardian." I said, amazed.

"Well, it's not that cool. Besides, you could survive a year in the desert. Just draw the water out of the…cactus-es." He said.

"It's cacti, and I'd barely last a week." I informed him with a giggle.

"How so?" he said.

"I kind of need blood to live…" I told him, and he shrugged.

"Drink your own blood." He teased, and I laughed and shook my head.

"It doesn't work like that. If it did, we'd probably drink our own blood all the time." I told him, though I was pretty sure he already knew that.

"Animal blood?" he suggested. My mouth dropped open.

"Eww! No!" I squealed. Eddie arched one eyebrow, and signed his name on the check, then handed it back to the waitress. "How do you do that?"

"Sign my name? It's pretty easy." He said, confused.

"No, the eyebrow thingy. I can't do it." I told him, and he laughed.

"Practice every day in front of a mirror." He told me, and I rolled my eyes, a dead-on imitation of Sydney. He laughed.

"Wow. You're not self absorbed." I said sarcastically. He laughed.

"I am not-oh, just come on." He said, walking around and pulling out my chair, then extending his hand to help me out.

"I can get up myself!" I said in mock anger, standing up and brushing past him. He followed me, his hands up as in an 'I surrender' type pose.

"Whoa. Feisty." He said, and I lightly punched his arm. "Do you even know where you're going?" he asked, following me.

I stopped in my tracks. "No." I admitted, looking at the street. He laughed, and shook his head.

"Come on, Princess." He joked, and I followed him.

"Coming, Castile." I said.

"Wow! So original!" he said, and I fought a smile from spreading on my lips.

"I know, right? It took me _all night_ to come up with that one." I said, and he laughed.

We stood in front of the gym after we had changed clothes in the locker rooms, and Eddie walked over to the dummies.

"Okay. We're going to learn how to throw a punch. You will be punching the dummy today." He said in a teacher-like voice, the little Dimitri inside him coming out.

"Hi, Mister Dummy." I giggled.

"Look at my technique." Eddie said, and he punched the dummy faster than you could blink, knocking it over. I knew my eyes were wide.

"Can you do that again…slowly? That was kind of quick." I said, and he smiled.

He punched the dummy in slow-mo, a sort of technique where his fist connect with the dummy's jaw, punching diagonally upwards.

"You wanna try?" he asked me. I nodded with determination.

I tried to punch the dummy, but my move was slower, and I hit the dummy at the wrong angle, barely touching the dummy's cheek.

"Not quite, but I was worse when I first started punching people." He said.

"People?" I asked, and he blushed, making him look cuter.

"My first time punching somebody was when I was seven. Not counting when I was an infant." He added hastily, and I laughed.

"Aww, I can imagine a cute little Eddie punching somebody…" I teased, and he blushed even deeper.

Without warning, he moved behind me. I felt fire race over the places where his body, lean and muscular touched mine, and the full length of his arm was against mine. He put his hand over mine, and I could feel the warmth of his palm rub against the back of my hand. His lips were by my ear as he whispered,

"Here. Let me help you." he curled mu hand into a fist, and slowly used my hand to demonstrate the movement. I felt electricity sparking between us. _Can he feel it, too?_ I wondered.

"Thanks." I murmured.

"Anytime. I want you to be safe. Now, let's try punching the dummy." He told me tenderly, which set off butterflies in my stomach.

He guided my arm towards the dummy's face quickly, leading me in a punch that swept the dummy off its feet, or post, and flying towards the wall.

"You did it!" he exclaimed, a huge smile spreading over his handsome face.

Without warning, he turned me to face him, and lifted me off my feet in a bone-crushing hug, spinning me around, and I shrieked, but I was laughing. He set me down, and loosened his grip.

"You did it." He repeated more softly, and he pulled me to him again. I wrapped my arms around him, and buried my head in the crook of his neck, breathing him in deeply. We embraced for a minute more, and we simultaneously pulled away.

Seconds after we broke our embrace, the door was pulled open, and I saw a couple hand in hand, a ginger and a girl with blonde hair pulled into a ponytail. They walked towards us.

"Mia!" Eddie exclaimed. Mia Rinaldi? I didn't know her well, but at a second glance I was sure it was her.

Eddie pulled her into a hug for a couple seconds, and he looked at the redhead with blue eyes.

"Micah? What are you doing here?" Eddie asked his old roommate. Well, we'd probably move back in a few days.

"You _still_ haven't figured out who I am?" Micah asked. Eddie's mouth opened in shock, and his hazel eyes widened.

"Mason?"


	6. Another Bomb Dropped

Hey! First of all, I wanted to thank all of you so much for reading my fanfic. It means a lot to me.

So, in the last chapter, Mason Ashford comes back (squee!), and Mason and Eddie are best friends, while I doubt that Jill knew Mason. She only knew Micah, who is Mason. Annnnnnnyway, because of that, I'm making this chapter in Eddie's POV. Please review and tell me how you like it!

**Edison Castile's POV**

I blinked multiple times to make sure that I wasn't hallucinating. Nope. My best friend, Mason Ashford was standing there. Micah didn't just resemble Mason; he was Mason. But why? Why would Mason pretend to be Micah?

Another thought popped into my mind. How was he even alive? I had seen his neck getting snapped clean off in the dark alley, but I wasn't thinking properly because of the endorphin rush of the strigoi constantly feeding off of me.

"Eddie? Wake up!" Mason said, snapping his fingers in front of my face.

"You and Mia?" I asked. Seriously? Out of all of the things I had to say to him, from how are you alive to why were you pretending to be my roommate at Amberwood, this is what I blurted out? A question about him and his new girl?

"Yeah. We started dating less than a week after she found out I was still alive." Mason said, sounding proud.

"HOW are you still alive?" I asked him, for some reason jealous that Mia found out he was alive before me.

"Did you know that the blood of a spirit user has special properties, like healing?" Mason asked me.

"No." I said, wondering where he was going with this.

"Oh. It has special properties, then. After you and Mia and Rose and Christian escaped, they killed a spirit user, and fed me the spirit users blood. It was really nasty, man, but now the strigoi are trying to find and kill spirit users." He explained, and my breath caught. No. No. No. He had to be wrong.

"Adrian! Oh my god, Eddie, we have to back and warn him. Sonya! Oh my god, Lissa! We have to tell them!" Jill shrieked besides me, suddenly hysterical. I rubbed her shoulder, relishing in the feel of her mostly bare shoulder against my skin. It felt like…liquid fire shooting up my body whenever we touched.

"Jill-" I began to say.

Jill was now in sobs, her body shaking. She was whimpering, trying to get words out, and I wrapped my arm around her in hopes of comforting her. She turned, and buried her face in my gym shirt.

"Please…please…we have to warn them…please!" she pleaded, and my heart melted for the water user, as it always did when she asked for something. I wanted to give her the world, do anything to make her happier.

"Of course. Come on, Jill. We're going back. I'll call Lissa and Sonya in the car. We'll reach Adrian soon." I told her soothingly, and she nodded against my shirt.

"See you later, bro. Catch me up." I told Mason.

Under any other situation, I would've dropped anything and thanked God upon my best friend being brought back from the dead, but this was different. This was Jillian Mastrano Dragomir. She changed everything. If she wanted something, I would run across the world to get whatever it was. She wanted her friends and family safe, and I did, too.

The severity of the situation struck me like a bullet. Lissa! The queen was in danger, possibly facing impending death. The borders that surrounded Court not at all reassured me. The strigoi had broken into court before; they could easily do it again. Not waiting to be in the car, I picked up my cell and dialed the queen.

_Hey, it's Lissa! I'm in a meeting; so if you have a message for me, leave it after the tone._ I hung up the phone and cursed under my breath, causing Jill to look at me with concern in her green eyes.

"Are you okay?" she asked ironically, seeing as she was the one crying.

"Fine…I just need to make a call." I told her.

I opened the door, and she stepped in. I took the seatbelt in my hands, and gently buckled her seatbelt. She looked up at me, stars in her eyes. I closed the door, and walked over to my side, and got in. I locked us in the car out of habit, and pulled my phone out of the pocket of my shorts. There was somebody else that I needed to call.

"Guardian Hathaway." A very professional voice said.

"Rose, I need to talk to you. Lissa, and Adrian, and every other spirit user are in danger." I said quickly.

"How so?" she asked quickly.

"I was just talking to Mason-"

"Eddie? Are you all right?" she asked, concern thick in her voice. I groaned, and tried to continue.

"It turns out that the blood of a spirit user has special healing properties that strigoi want for some reason, so they're killing spirit users."

"Are you insane? What are you talking about?" she asked me, and I could tell that she was considering sending me to a mental hospital. I sighed deeply, and looked at Jill, who was trying to listen in on our conversation.

"Okay. Mason Ashford got brought back from the dead. By a strigoi. With a spirit users blood." I said slowly, realizing how mental I sounded.

"Eddie?" she asked, confusion in her voice. "I'm worried about you." she said slowly and clearly, as if she was talking to a child.

"Look, Jill was there. Just, talk to her as well." I said, and I put my phone on speaker.

"Hi, Rose!" Jill said cheerily.

"Jill…what happened to Eddie? Why is he talking about mason being brought back from the dead?"

"He disguised himself as Micah! He's alive!" Jill exclaimed.

"Okaaaaay. Did you two both simultaneously hit your heads?" she asked, and Jill rolled her eyes.

"Mason Ashford is alive!" I said persistently.

"I saw his ghost fade." She said stubbornly.

"That was him being brought back to life!" I exclaimed, running a hand through my hair.

"I'll believe it when I see it." She said, and I knew that she was crossing her arms over her chest.

"Fine!" I said. I told Rose the name of the gym, and she agreed to be there ASAP.

I put Adrian and Sonya on conference call. "I don't have much time to talk, so I'll make it simple. The strigoi want to kill spirit users for their blood, which has magic in it. Protect yourselves. Adrian, stay close to Angeline and Sydney, and I'll be there soon. Sonya, keep yourself safe. I've got to go." I hung up the phone, and hopped out of the car, walking out to the left side to help Jill out.

"Couldn't stay away, Castile?" Mason asked me, and I smiled. I missed our friendship.

Mason Ashford had been my best friend since first grade, when we had bonded over the fact that the white crayon was under-used. We stayed best friends until the day he died, and I was happy and shocked to have him back.

"Rose wanted to see you, Ashford. She thinks I'm cracking up." I told him, and he laughed. Whenever Mason laughed, being the ginger he is, his face turns red.

"How is Rose doing?" Mason asked. The thought crossed my mind that he wasn't over Rose, but I dismissed the thought when I saw him tenderly look at Mia, and say something I couldn't quite hear. His eyes were full of compassion…and love.

Many times, Mason had told me that he loved Rose, but the words were empty. When I looked at him looking at Mia, I knew that this was the real thing. I smiled for him, and looked at Jill, who was looking up at me.

"What?" I asked her softly. She flushed, being caught staring at me, and shook her head.

"I'm just scared…I don't want anybody to get hurt." She said. She looked so vulnerable, so sweet, and so innocent…before I could stop myself, I brushed a stray golden-brown lock of hair away from her face.

Mason cleared his throat, as if to rephrase his question. "So? How is Rose?" he asked again.

"I'm fine, thank you." Rose said casually after she walked in. Mason whipped around, and Rose froze.

"Muh-muh-Mason?" she asked, her eyes like saucers. I smirked in a told-you-so type of way. Damn. Adrian was rubbing off on me.

"Hey, Hathaway. Miss me?" he asked. Instead of responding, she flew toward him, hugging him. He laughed after she pulled away, a shocked expression on her face.

"What-how-who-you're dead!" she exclaimed.

"Yes, as you can see, I am very much dead." Mason said sarcastically.

"Why are you not dead?" Rose demanded, which made Jill laugh. Only Jill could make a laugh so innocent and pure.

"I'm sorry for being alive. My presence is seeming to bother you." he joked.

"How?" she asked persistently.

"When I faded out, it was because I was being fed the blood of a dead spirit user, which brought me back to life. I had to escape the strigoi, so I took up an alternate identity, saying my name was Micah Vallence. When they came looking for me, I said I was Micah, and I acted as if I didn't know who they were. At Amberwood, I had to keep up with the act, which was hard as hell, what with pretending that I didn't know Eddie." Mason said.

The pieces clicked together in my head, and I remembered moments where 'Micah' had remembered things about me that I though I had never told him. He was just as strong as me, and built like me, but with more pale skin. He had the quick instincts of a guardian. Whenever we walked into a situation or place, he always assessed our surroundings, the same as me. Why had I not found that strange?

"Uh. Wow. Well, since Eddie is not crazy yet, can you go home with Jill and make sure that Adrian is safe? Jill, too. We think that the weird hunters, or whatever they're called, are targeting everybody close to the queen. You can have Angeline guard Adrian, and maybe Sydney, and you can guard Jill." She told me assertively.

"How so?" I asked with a ghost of a smile on her face.

"Hmm, just sleep with her." My eyes widened at this, and Rose smiled. "Not in that way! God, Eddie, is sex always on your mind? Fine, sleep with her if you want, but don't get _too_ distracted." She said. I grabbed Jill's arm.

"Come on, Jill, let's get you away from the crazy damphir." I muttered, and dragged her towards the car.

After I helped her in, and got in myself, she started laughing hysterically. I furrowed my eyebrows, wondering what about this situation she found so hilarious.

"Why are you laughing?" I asked, completely serious. She just laughed even harder, so that tears streamed down the planes of her cheeks.

"Oh my god…your face is so red…you should see yourself…" she choked out, and I just shook my head, laughing the kind of laugh that only Jill could get out of me.

Jill and I had come to an agreement that I would stay in her room. I didn't protest, seeing that it would make her happier. I was still nervous by the prospect of sleeping in the same room as the Dragomir princess.

Jill sat on her bed, wearing a see-through white shirt with thin straps, showing her bubblegum pink bra with white polka dots on it, and black flannel shorts. I looked away discreetly.

She lay down on her bed, and I felt a growing sense of hunger in the pit of my stomach that I uselessly was trying to push away.

"I'm scared, Eddie." She whimpered, and I got up, and lay down on the bed next to her.

"Shhhhh…I'm right here." I told her, and she wrapped her arms around my neck. I encircled my arms around her waist, and she leaned her head into my chest. I felt white-hot energy flow through my veins as I stared as the golden angel in my arms, and closed my eyes slowly.

Less than an hour later, I fell asleep to the sound of her slow, steady breathing.

Thanks for reading! Again, please comment and tell me what you think of the story so far, and if I should try Eddie's POV more often.


	7. My name is Jill

I blinked my heavy eyes open, to find myself staring into Eddie's chest. I smiled to myself, still feeling the burning pressure of his strong arms around me.

I tried to angle myself so I could look into Eddie's face. His eyes snapped open at my slightest movement, as if he never was sleeping- only closing his eyes.

His head whipped around the room, looking for any signs of danger lurking in the hidden corners of the room. When he found none, he relaxed, and looked at me.

"Good morning, princess." He said, and I forced myself to frown.

"You know better than to call me princess." I told him, softly slapping his arm. He grinned at my reaction to his nickname.

"Oh, really? I-do you hear that?" he suddenly asked. I had supernatural hearing, the same as all moroi, and could hear quiet bickering.

"I think it's Adrian. I'm going to check up on him." I whispered, and Eddie nodded slightly. I pulled myself into the mind of Adrian Ivashkov.

Adrian and Sydney were sitting on the floor of their bedroom, and Sydney had her arms crossed over her chest, and a frown was painted on her lips.

"Why can't we just…pretend it never happened?" Sydney asked in distress. Adrian frowned, and shook his head. _You'd like that, wouldn't you? You want to go back to a life where you believed vampires were evil creatures, and humans stayed away from them?_ He thought.

"Because it did happen, and something like that you can't just…forget, just like that. It's not that simple. I only wish it was." He muttered the last sentence under his breath, but Sydney heard it, which only seemed to fuel her anger.

"You're talking about Rose, aren't you? Grow up, she didn't choose you! Why does everything always come back to Rose for you?" she snapped at him, but I could hear the hurt in her voice.

_You idiot, admit you like him! _I wanted to scream at her. Adrian groaned at her ignorance.

_For somebody who can speak five languages, fix any part of a car in ten seconds flat, and know anything about everything that you could need to know, you're not very bright in social matters._ Adrian thought. _I'm talking about you, not Rose! You think this is hard? It's hard for me, too. It's hard as hell to love somebody who doesn't love you back._

I had the sudden urge to march over there and strangle them both. Why were they being so utterly stupid?

"Jill?" Eddie asked softly, urging me back into reality. I blinked a few times, dizzy from the sudden change of situations. I noticed that Eddie was no longer holding me, and I longed for his strong arms around me.

"Ugh, they were being stupid again." I said, shaking me head.

"Yeah…it's gonna be a while until Sydney realizes how much she loves him. A love like that can't be kept." Eddie told me, and I looked up at him curiously.

"Sounds like you know a lot about love." I said softly, and he avoided my gaze.

"Yeah…I guess. I think I found the girl for me, but…I don't know. She doesn't feel the same way. We can't ever really be together." Eddie said, a note of sadness in his voice.

"Why don't you tell her? She might feel the same way." I said softly, and he shook his head. We were only sitting inches away from each other.

"Maybe…I'll think about it." He said, looking at me intently. I blushed under his gaze, sweeping over my body.

"Uh, we should go make sure Sydney and Adrian stop fighting." I said quickly. Eddie blinked, as if he had just come out of a trance.

"Right." He said, shaking his head, and standing up, extending a hand to help me up. I graciously took it, and he pulled me to my feet.

"Your house has a pool, and you didn't tell me?" I asked when I got back from school. Adrian laughed.

"I didn't think you'd care." Adrian teased. "Grab your swimsuit, Jailbait. You too, everybody else." He said, too lazy to say names. I giggled.

I walked into the room where they kept the pool, looking down at my blue and white striped bikini.

"The water's fine." Eddie said as I reached the water near him. I giggled, and dipped my toe in the water.

The feel of the clean, cool water on my skin felt like stepping in an alternate reality. I walked down the steps and into the aquamarine water, and it fell over me, like a blanket. The feeling of the water on my skin numbed out everything, and all of my worries washed away. I was one with the water now. The water was a part of me, a part of my soul.

Eddie floated a few feet away from me on an inflatable raft, closing his eyes as if he was dreaming, but I knew that if there were danger, he'd jump to his feet in seconds.

"Come on, Eddie! You can't come to a pool, and just float above the water on a raft!" I exclaimed.

"Says who?" he asked, turning his head to look at me.

I tried to tuck a lock of golden brown-now brown from the water-hair behind my ear, but the chlorine in the pool made my wild curls even harder to tame, and seconds after I hooked the hair behind my ear, it bounced back. Eddie tried and failed at hiding a smile.

"Says the Dragomir princess." I said, straightening, and this time Eddie laughed. I did as well.

"Well, if it's orders from royalty…" he gracefully slipped off the raft.

We sat on the steps of the pool, submerged up to our chests.

"So, Princess, how are you liking the pool?" he asked. My lips pulled into a mock frown.

"It's Jill. J-I-L-L." I told him.

As if to demonstrate my name, I pointed my finger, and some water jumped up and twisted into elegant letters, spelling out _Jill_ in cursive. Eddie's eyes widened.

"Wow. Cool." He said. "Very cool, _Jill_." He said. I giggled, loving the way his lips formed the word Jill.

"Yes, Jillian, very cool." Adrian said, coming up behind me. I rolled my eyes.

"What is it with you guys and not pronouncing my name right?" I groaned, and Eddie laughed.

"What fun is that?" Eddie teased.

"Yeah, Jillison." Adrian said.

"Huh?" Eddie asked, his eyebrows furrowing together. Adrian smirked, and I smiled, comparing his smirk to Christian Ozera's. They were so much alike, no matter how much they said that they were different.

"Jillison. A combination of the name Jillian and Edison. Jillison." Adrian said, and I rolled my eyes.

"Are you really so lazy that you can't even say two names?" I asked, knowing the answer through the bond before he even said it.

"Oh, Jailbait, I'm _much_ more lazy than that. Even you don't know the extreme levels of my laziness. I make laziness into a sport. I call it 'extreme laziness'." Adrian said, and I rolled my eyes. I drenched him with a bubble of water that I quickly formed. He hadn't gotten wet from the waist up, in an attempt to save his hair, probably.

"That's it, Jailbait." He lunged forward and tackled me, the water softening the impact.

"Get-offa me!" I squealed, my head going under momentarily. Adrian smiled, and swam towards Sydney. Her face visibly lit up when she saw him.

I switched into Adrian's mind.

"Adrian, I'm so sorry!" Sydney said, flinging her arms around his neck. I smiled for them.

"God, Sage, you know that I can't stay mad at you." Adrian teased, and he hugged her back. He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the lips, and her mouth dropped open.

I slipped back into my own mind, seeing Eddie staring at me.

"You look kind of sad. What's wrong?" he told me, and I looked up at him, and forced a stiff laugh.

"I'm fine! See? I'm laughing." I told him.

"That's not what your real laugh sounds like." He said with a smile.

"What _does_ my real laugh sound like?" I asked him flirtatiously, and smiled.

"This." He said, and he reached forward and tickled me. I squealed, trying to swim away, but I was pressed into a corner, and I couldn't slip out of his grasp. I didn't really want to, though. The blissful feeling of his fingers on my stomach and arms set off butterflies in my stomach, and my skin was on fire, despite the cold water.

I clasped onto his shoulders, trying to push him away when I was doubling over with laughter.

"Okay! Truce!" I squealed, and he smiled widely, happiness in his eyes. The water was making them look more blue than grey.

He wrapped his arms around my waist, holding me close. I didn't breathe. I don't think that I could if I wanted to.

"Eddie…" I whispered, and he leaned down, gently, and I tilted my head up. We stood there, eyes locked, frozen for an endless moment. They he closed the space between our lips slowly.

Eddie wasn't my first kiss. God knows how many times I've been kissed. But this was different. Instead of the numb happiness I usually felt, happy to be desired, I felt…fireworks behind my eyes as I gently closed them. His heat radiated around me, and I felt a liquid flame running through my body instead of blood. And his lips…oh, his lips. He always seemed so hard, so tough…but his lips were the softest things I could have ever imagined.

His lips against mine were sweet, yet fierce. Strong, but gentle. Slow, but hungry. I kissed him back eagerly, with just as much passion.

There was barely any space between us, but suddenly it was too much of a distance. I pressed up against him, our bodies molding together like…two pieces coming together. Two pieces of a soul, forming us together in this perfect moment. Soul mates.

His fingers traced up and down my spinal cord, leaving the hairs at the back of my neck standing on end, and electricity crackling through me. I tangled my fingers in his wet hair, loving the way it felt under my fingers.

We both pulled away simultaneously, the perfect ending to the perfect kiss. My breathing was labored, and his breaths were short and heavy as well. We just stared into each other's eyes, holding each other for a long minute.

"Wow." I breathed, knowing my eyes were probably wide and stunned.

"That was…amazing." He said, his voice husky. I opened my mouth to say something, but no words came out. I just nodded, breathless, unable to get any more words out. Before I could attempt at speaking, his lips were once again on mine, and I felt as much fire as the last time we kissed.

_I love him_, I realized. _I am in love with Edison Castile_.

** SNEAK PEEK OF CHAPTER EIGHT**

"_Please! No! I'll do whatever you want, just please don't hurt him! Please! I'll do anything!" I hiccupped in hysterical sobs._

"_Jill, no. Don't fall for it. I'm not worth it." He said, looking at me with those piercing hazel eyes. They stabbed the stake into his shoulder, and he hissed in pain, trying not to show how much he was hurt._

"_EDDIE!" I shrieked, and tried to run to him. Two people caught my arms, and I twisted and struggled, but I couldn't free myself from their grasp. They shoved me down onto my knees, and I whimpered in pain._

"_Don't hurt him." I whimpered, tears streaking down my face. I tried to summon my magic, but nothing happened. My magic wouldn't work here._

"_You know what we want. If you help us achieve our goal, he stays alive." One of the men hissed in my ear, and I began sobbing, my body shaking._

"_Jill, don't do it!" Eddie said, eyes wide. The man plunged the stake into his shoulder again, and he cried out in agony. My heart seemed to snap in half, and I said the unthinkable._

"_I'll do it."_


	8. The Ultimate Choice

"I know. I saw it, and you've told me uncountable times." Adrian teased me after I told him that Eddie kissed me about…ten times? Twenty? I didn't know.

"I know, but it was so…amazing! It was the best thing that has ever happened to me. Do you know what it feels like to have that…magical first kiss with your soul mate?" I asked dreamily, still able to feel Eddie's warm lips covering mine. I sighed, not noticing Adrian's scowl that crossed his lips.

"Do I ever." He muttered, glancing at Sydney's closed door, and I turned my head down in guilt. Of course he did. I could feel what he felt for Sydney.

"What is going on between you guys? She flirts, you flirt, you kiss her, and she runs." I said. Adrian had gotten better at blocking me out, so I couldn't piece together the whole story, but when his emotions got the best of him, I was sucked into his mind.

"I honestly have no clue." He said, sadness in his eyes. Adrian had a champion poker face, but his eyes always betrayed him, always showing how he truly felt.

"Adrian…" I said, looking for words of comfort, but I got none. I shook my head, and touched his arm gently, reaching into his mind for his thoughts.

_She is supposed to be the one to understand me the best, but she doesn't get me. None of them do. They don't get it…what it feels like._ Adrian thought bitterly, and I snapped back into my mind.

"I don't understand what you're going through, but it'll be okay." I said, my words of comfort coming to me finally, and he gave me a semi-amused smile.

"How so?" he asked, and I couldn't fight my grin.

"Don't worry. She'll fall for you. Everybody always does." I said, and glanced at my watch. "I have to go get ready for my date." I told him, and he nodded with a knowing smile. I smiled to myself. Sooner or later, Sydney would fall for him.

I wore a pair of dark-wash skinnies, and a jade green halter top. After putting on my makeup-tinted lip-gloss, foundation, and eyeliner-I walked over to Eddie's room.

Before I could open the door, he opened it, and smiled gently at me, making my heart flutter.

"Hey…uh, if I tell you something, don't get mad." He said before I could say a word.

"What?" I asked, and he looked at the ground.

"Uh, is it okay if Mia and Mason double with us?" he asked hopefully, and I smiled. I was happy for him that Mason was back-er, revealed.

"Yeah, of course!" I said quickly. I liked Mia. She had helped me learn about water.

Half an hour later, I sat next to Eddie in a booth seat. "So, where are they?"

"Mason is…always late." Eddie said with a grin, and I smiled back cheekily.

"Why are you smiling?" I asked, the stupid grin still on my face. Eddie smiled the same cheesy grin on his face.

"You're smiling, too." Eddie teased, leaning closer, and a blush crept into my cheeks.

"Am not." I said, still grinning.

"Really?" he asked, reaching out and gently pinching my cheek, as if pointing out my obvious smile.

"Jill!" a voice exclaimed. I looked up to see a cheerful Mia Rinaldi. She was dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a green button down, with no makeup, as usual.

"Mia!" I exclaimed with a smile. The water user smiled at me, and slipped into her seat.

I scooped a spoonful of vegetable soup in my mouth, listening to Eddie and Mason arguing about a proper 'roundhouse kick', whatever that was. Mia smiled sweetly at her.

"Well, we'll leave them to their guardian talk. How've you been?" she asked me, and I glanced at Eddie. He caught my gaze and winked.

"Good…things at Palm Springs are pretty crazy…" Jill trailed off.

"Crazy how?" Mia asked.

"Well, at first, they called me a vampire-" I began. Her eyes went wide, and her mouth dropped open at this comment.

"They found out? How? Jill, what did you do?" she asked, concern thick in her blue eyes.

"They were only teasing me, because I'm pale, tall, and I can't be in the sunlight for too long." I said, wincing at the memory.

"Oh. Well, you said 'at first'. How are things now?" Mia asked, seeing my reaction to the topic, and quickly changing the subject.

"Well, Sydney and Adrian are in love, but Sydney is still clouded over by her alchemist beliefs." I told her quickly, praying that Adrian wasn't somehow watching.

"An alchemist? That's new. Well, it seems like everybody falls for Ivashkov. I'm not surprised." I blushed, remembering how I used to have a crush on Adrian.

"Yeah." I said.

"So, how'd you end up with Eddie?" Mia asked, looking at Eddie, the to me.

"Well, we liked each other for a while, and we kissed, and it was amazing. I've never been kissed like that." I mused.

"Me neither." Eddie said, and gave me a small pack on the lips. I smiled against his lips as warmth spread throughout me at that small kiss.

"Aww…" Mia said, and Mason kissed her for about five seconds. I looked away awkwardly, and Eddie laughed at my reaction.

"So, how did you two end up together?" Eddie asked, and Mason smiled.

"Funny story…" Mason said, and Mia rolled her eyes.

"I saw him, and when I realized he was alive, I realized how much I missed him, so I kissed him, and he kissed me back. Now we're dating." Mia said simply.

"Pretty much. You forgot all of the glory details of the kiss, though. You're a _much_ better kisser than Jill, I assure you." he said. The smiled left all of out faces instantly.

"You've kissed Jill?" Mia asked.

"When?" Eddie asked.

"When Micah-Mason and I were dating, but it was only one kiss. I swear that it didn't mean anything." I stammered, and Eddie's shoulders loosened.

"You dated her?" Mia asked, still in shock over the whole situation. He nodded.

"It was only to support my cover, I assure you." he said. Ouch. That hurt.

"So, you never liked me? You were lying?" I squeaked. I loved Eddie now, but my old feelings for Mic-Mason were real.

"I liked you, of course! You were just like a sister. Please, Jill, forgive me." Mason pleaded, and I sighed, but nodded.

"Fine." I grumbled, still feeling hurt over what Mason told me, but I looked at Eddie, and smiled.

"Come on. Let's go for a walk on the beach." Eddie said after we ate dinner, and I nodded.

I clung onto his strong arm, leaning into it as we talked. We talked about funny stuff, sad stuff, random stuff, and meaningful stuff. Eventually we sat in the sand, and he wrapped an arm around me. I snuggled into his arm.

"I don't really understand any of that. Why isn't there only one type?" I asked, referring to punching, the topic we were talking about. He laughed, as if the answer was obvious.

"Well, I always prefer the right hook, where-" I grabbed him by his shirt and kissed him, cutting him off from whatever he was about to say.

Suddenly, we were jolted away, and somebody tied my hands around my back, and gagged me. I heard a high pitched muffled screaming, and then realized that it was me.

I was shoved harshly into a cellar, and un-gagged. "What are you doing? What do you want?" I shrieked, and looked up into my attacker. I gasped. Him? I thought he cared about me! I couldn't breathe anymore.

"We want to know how to get past the wards." He said, and my mouth dropped open.

"No!" Eddie shouted, and he suddenly groaned in pain. I whipped around to see a girl with black hair teasingly trace her knife into him, leaving a long gash. I shrieked, and ran for him. Two people grabbed my arms, and I was jolted back.

"Eddie! Stop it!" I shrieked, thrashing in their arms.

"We'll stop us if you help us break into the wards." They said teasingly, and I began to cry.

"I can't! Why do you want to know how to break into the wards?" I shrieked, kicking them, but they stayed, holding me in place.

"We want the rightful queen to take her place." My captor said menacingly.

"Lissa is the rightful-AGH!" Eddie groaned as they stabbed him near his shoulder. I let out a shriek, and began shaking from my hysterical sobs.

"She is not!" one of the men yelled, and I furrowed my eyebrows. Lissa had enough royal blood to be queen. She was elected queen. She had me as part of her bloodline. She was perfectly eligible to be the queen. She was the rightful queen.

"Who is, then?" I asked, wondering if they could understand me past my shaky sobs. Apparently they could, because one man responded.

"Tasha Ozera. You've heard of her, I'm sure." The man said with a wicked smile that I could barely see in the stank, dark cellar, but my eyes were slowly adjusting to the light of the cellar.

"Why her? No! She's a murderer!" Eddie shouted. The man, again, smiled gleefully at the word murderer.

"She killed the old queen, and threatened to kill Mia! She framed Rose! Rose could've been executed!" I shrieked, barely understanding my own words.

"She would be a good queen. She will be a good queen once we get rid of the Dragomir queen. Now, where are the gaps in the borders?" he asked, and I shook my head.

"I don't know!" I shrieked. It was the truth. The borders were reinforced more than once a week after the strigoi attacked. I had no clue if there were any gaps in the border, but I highly doubted it. I didn't know why he thought I'd know if there were any gaps in the border.

"Would you be able to lead us in as guests?" he asked suddenly, his face lighting up into a grin. He obviously had thought that he had thought up some sort of brilliant idea.

"No. I wouldn't." I lied, saying the lie too quickly. I almost kicked myself. I always lied way too quickly, tipping everybody off that I wasn't telling the truth. I wasn't a good liar. I couldn't lie without blinking a lot and sweating. Even now, I was blinking rapidly, and the golden-brown hairs on the back of my head stuck to my sweaty neck.

"You're lying…" the girl with black hair said. I wondered who she was for a moment. Black hair, ice-blue eyes…. Avery! Avery Lazar! An idea hatched in my mind.

"Avery won't be able to get in! Everybody thinks she's mental." I said smoothly. It wasn't a lie, so I could keep a straight face.

"Have you forgotten that I'm a spirit user? I can use a simple charm." She said.

"No. Don't hurt my sister." I said bravely, and the man smiled sickly, and ran the knife along Eddie's stomach, making a deep gash. He began shaking, but he tried to hide it. The man positioned to stab him. Something inside me broke when I saw the agony on his face.

"Please! No! I'll do whatever you want, just please don't hurt him! Please! I'll do anything!" I hiccupped in hysterical sobs.

"Jill, no. Don't fall for it. I'm not worth it." He said, looking at me with those piercing hazel eyes. They stabbed the stake into his shoulder, and he hissed in pain, trying not to show how much he was hurt.

"EDDIE!" I shrieked, and tried to run to him. Two people caught my arms, and I twisted and struggled, but I couldn't free myself from their grasp. They shoved me down onto my knees, and I whimpered in pain.

"Don't hurt him." I whimpered, tears streaking down my face. I tried to summon my magic, but nothing happened. My magic wouldn't work here.

"You know what we want. If you help us achieve our goal, he stays alive." One of the men hissed in my ear, and I began sobbing, my body shaking.

"Jill, don't do it!" Eddie said, eyes wide. The man plunged the stake into his shoulder again, and he cried out in agony. My heart seemed to snap in half, and I said the unthinkable.

"I'll do it."

**Haha, sorry for the cliffhanger ending. **

**If you want to see more Sydrian, too bad!Hahaha just kidding, if you want Sydrian, check out my fanfic titled Head or Heart: A Sydrian Story. It's the same plot, but narrated by Sydney. **

**I'd like to specially thank ****Mrs Castile**** for reading every chapter so far and giving me good reviews. Don't worry, Eddie will be okay.**

**All of these amazing characters belong to Richelle Mead.**

**Who do you think that the man is? The one who is holding Jill captive, I mean. If you think you know, post your guess in the reviews. Oh, please review.**


	9. Alert

Hey you guys! Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I update on tumblr often, so could you guys follow me on tumblr?

( ) that's the link, just without the parentheses.


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